Wax thread sewing machine



93 H. GRAF WAX THREAD SEWING MACHINE Filed May 23, 1953 Patented Aug. 7, 1934 UNITED STATES WAX THREAD sawmo MACHINE Henry Graf, Newburyport, Mass, assignor to. United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application May 23, 1933, Serial No. 672,411 6 Claims. (01. 112 42) The present invention relates to sewing machines of the same general type as described in the U. S.- Patent No. 1,108,560 granted August 25, 1914' to Andrew Eppler, employing waxed 5 thread, and more particularly to improvements for preventing the work from being soiled in such machines by contact with the wax carried by the thread.

The machine described in the Eppler patent is provided with main and auxiliary take-ups having heated guide rolls over which the waxed thread passes to'the point of operation on the Work, so arranged as to permit small particles of melted wax under certain conditions to drop upon the work being sewn. The object of the present invention is, therefore, to shield the work against discoloration and soiling occasioned by such contact with the wax.

A feature of the invention contemplates the provision in a machine of this type of a shield or trough for catching the wax'stripped from the thread as it passes the thread guides above the work and causing it to be conducted back to the thread as it travels towards the sewing point in the work.

This and other features of the invention will be clearly understood from an inspection of the accompanying drawing in which, Figure 1 is a View in side elevation of a welt sewing machine embodying the same in its preferred form; Figure 2 is a view in front elevation of a portion of the sewing machine illustrated in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of the wax trough of the present invention; and Figures 4 and 5 are views in side and rear elevations, respectively, of the wax trough.

The machine illustrated is provided with a curved hook needle 2, a take-up 4, an auxiliary take-up 6, a thread arm 8, a welt guide 10, a looper 12, a back rest 14, and other stitch forming and work supporting devices having the same general arrangement and mode of operation as the corresponding parts of the welt and turn sewing machine disclosed in the patent above referred to.

The thread is supplied to the stitch forming devices from a suitable source, and is guided over guide rolls 16 and 18 carried by the main and auxiliary take-up arms, respectively. The thread is waxed before entering the machine and is maintained in a heated condition until the stitches are formed by heating the parts adjacent the stitch forming mechanism. To heat the rolls 16 and 18, the take-up arms 4 and 6, respectively, are positioned closely to a substantially fiat vertical plate'20 carrying at its forward part a heater 22. Heat is transferred from the heater 22 to the plate'and' to the arms supporting the rolls 16 and 18 so that the thread passing over them is heatedthereby. The rolls being .directly over the work as it is held in position in the machine, heretofore have caused wax to be stripped from the thread and to 'be deposited on the work being operated upon.

To prevent the work from being soiled by cone tact with the wax stripped from the thread in passing to the stitch forming devices, according to the present invention, a wax trough 24fis disposed beneath the threadguiding rolls 16 and 18onthe take-up arms so as to catch the wax stripped from the thread. The Wax trough 24 is removably mounted on the lower part of the heater 22 in a position substantially horizontal but with the inner surface of the trough inclined somewhat downwardly towards the back of the machine. The thread extends from the guide roll 16 through an opening 26, in the wax trough. Wax is prevented from passing through the opening by an upturned'fiange on the trough about the edges of the opening, and an oblique slot 28 communicates from the outsideof, the trough with the opening to facilitate threading of the machine. From the guide roll 16 to the looper,12, the thread is substantially straight while the machine is operating and theopening 26 is sufficiently large to clear the'thread as the looper moves about the needle. During operation of the machine, the particles of wax stripped from the thread fall into the wax trough 24 and are melted by the heat supplied 9 by the heater 22, causing the wax to run down the incline of the bottom of the wax trough towards the rear.

To prevent the trough from filling and overflowing, there is formed at the lowest portion thereof a tubular conductor 30 arranged, when the trough is mounted on the machine, to take a position directly above the looper 12. The looper, being formed, as usual, with a thread passage 32, will receive the liquid wax running .1 through the conductor 30 and reapply it to the thread as it passes therethrough.

The looper, in the normal operation of the machine, acts to lay the thread in the thread finger and then move about the end of the 10 needle in a continuous path. During the greater part of the time in each cycle of the machine, the looper is in approximately the position shown in Figure 1, with the thread passage 32 directly beneath the conductor 30. When the machine is brought to rest, the looper is also in this position. While the looper is threading the needle, the thread passage 32 is moved out from under the end of the conductor 30 and is returned again after the needle is threaded. If a drop of melted wax should happen to collect at the lower endof the conductor 30 while the looper is moving around the end of the needle, the close proximity of the looper and the thread extending from the looper to the guide r011 16 on the take-up as the looper returns to the position of Figure 1, will cause the dropof wax to be precipitated onto the thread.

By this construction, the wax stripped from the thread as it passes the guide rolls 16 and'18 will always be caught and returned to thethread, insuring proper formation of stitches in the work with the wax originally applied to the thread, while at the same time, the work will be kept free of discoloration and other undesirable efiects produced by contact with the wax throughout unstitched areas.

What is claimed is':--

1'. A wax thread sewing machine havin in combination, a hook needle, aneedle threading looper having a passage for the thread, heated guides over which the thread passes to the looper, a trough disposed beneath the heated guides for catehing wax which is separated from the thread in passing over the guides, and means for transferring the wax' from the trough to the thread as it passes to the work.

2. A wax thread sewing machine having, in combination, a curved hock needle, a needle threading looper having a passage for the thread, a take-up above the looper, a heated guide on the take-up over which the thread passes to the lo'op'er, a trough disposed between the looper and the take-up for catching thewax which is it passes to the looper.

3. A Wax thread sewing machine having, in

combination, a hook needle, a needle threadingl'o'ope'r having a passage" for the thread, guides over which the thread passes to the looper, a

, trough disposed beneath the guides for catching wax which is separated from the thread in passing over the guides, and a conductor connected with the trough having its lower end in close proximity to the path of the thread extending between said guides and the looper in one position of the looper during each cycle of operation of the machine.

4. A War: thread sewing machine having, in combination, a hook needle, a needle threading looper having a passage for the thread, guides over which the thread passes to the looper, a trough disposed beneath the guides for catching Wax which is separated from the thread in passing over the guides, and a conductor connected with the trough having its lower end above the looper at a position in which the wax from the trough will fall into the thread passage when the machine is brought to rest.

5. A wax thread sewing machine having, in combination, a curved hook needle, a needle threading looper having a passage for the thread, a take-up above the looper, a heated guide on the take-up over which the thread passes to the looper, a trough disposed between the looper and the take-up for catching the" wax which is separated from the thread in passing over the heated guide, means for melting the wax in the trough, and a tubular conductor connected with the trough at one end and arranged with its other end above the thread passage in the looper in one position of the looper dur ing each cycle of operation of the machine.

6. A wax thread sewing machine having, in combination, a curved hook needle, a needle threading looper having a passage for the thread, a take-up above the looper, a plate along the surface of which the take up operates, a guide on the take-up over which the thread passes to the looper, a heater connected to the plate its iio

for heating the take-up guide, a trough mounted on the machine between the looper and the guide on the take-up to be heated by said heater for catching the wax which is separated from the thread in passing over the take-up guide, and a tubular conductor connected at its upper end with the trough and arranged with its lower end above the thread passage in the looper in one position of the looper during each cycle of operation of the machine.

HENRY GRAF. 

